


No Air

by Onechicagolover



Category: Chicago PD (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:48:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25168720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Onechicagolover/pseuds/Onechicagolover
Summary: When Hailey tells Jay she's being sent to New York, confessions arise. While she's in New York she realizes that being away from Jay and home is harder than it seems. What happens when the New York team needs some more help with the latin players and voight sends another member of intelligence to help them out. How will the new couple handle the new changes.
Relationships: Jay Halstead & Hailey Upton
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34





	1. confessions

**Disclaimer I do not own any of the characters or plots, that all Dick Wolfe**

  
  
  


Being told she was being sent to New York was like getting punched in the stomach. She knew why Voight was doing it, she was getting out of control. After getting over the shock of the news she knew that she had to tell Jay. She would be damned if she hurt him like Erin did. As she pulled up to his building she realized just how scared she was. She had just started to admit that she had feelings for him, and she was just starting to get the feeling that he felt the same. She was so sure that if that was the case then her leaving for New York would cause him to think that she was abandoning him and that was the last thing that she wanted. She finally made it to his door and raised her hand to knock, after what felt like hours she had finally gotten the nerve to knock. It wasn’t long until she heard his footsteps on the other side, followed by him unlocking and opening the door. She was prepared for the conversation to come, but what she wasn’t prepared for was the sight in front of her. There was Jay, shirtless with only a pair of old sweat pants on and hair slightly damp like he had just gotten out of the shower. She couldn’t help but admire the bare chest in front of her. The perfectly toned pecks that led down to his tight abdomen and then leading down to the deep V that disappeared just below the waistband of his sweats. She was broken out of her trance when she heard him chuckle. When she looked up at him she noticed he had leaned against the door frame and was just watching her with a twinkle in his emerald green eyes. She felt the heat in her cheeks at having been caught checking him out. She just smiled a nervous smile. He pushed himself off the door frame and opened the door wider as an invitation for her to come inside. When she walked inside she headed straight for his bottle of expensive whiskey. She immediately poured herself a glass and then downed it in one go. 

“Hails what are you doing here?” He wasn’t initially worried until she downed the first glass of whiskey when she first walked in. “ Is everything ok?” When she didn’t immediately answer he just watched her hoping he could pick up on whatever was going on. “Hailey.” he whispered her name hoping she would understand just how concerned he was for her. “You know you can tell me anything. Please just say something.” When she finally looked up to him she saw his normally bright green eyes dark with worry. Downing her second glass of whiskey she let out a breath that she didn’t even know she was holding.

“ No Jay, everything is not okay, and I knew you had to be the first person that I told, because I just didn’t want you to find out from anyone else.” She stopped because she realized that she was rambling. When Jay realized just how upset she was he walked over and did the only thing he could think of to help, so he walked over and wrapped her in his arms. She tensed against him, as this wasn’t totally normal for them, but then after a couple of seconds she relaxed into his arms and let out another deep breath and wrapped her arms around him. After a few minutes of letting Jay ground her, she told him what was going on.

“I’ll tell you under one condition.” she pulled back just enough so she could look into his eyes. He immediately answered without even a question. “Anything.” 

She took another deep breath and gave him his condition. 

“You can’t go anything stupid, not anything that will risk your job or anything. Got it?” She was using her stern voice and Jay knew that meant she wasn’t playing around. It was his turn to take a deep breath, her condition only concerned him more. 

“Alright fine. But I just want you to know that you are really scaring me.” Before she could chicken out she just leapt into her reasoning for being there.

“Voights sending me to New York for 2 weeks as a loan officer to the FBI.” She then held her breath for the explosion of anger that she knew was about to come. But to her surprise it never came, or at least that’s what she thought. When she looked up at him she saw so many emotions in his eyes but the two most prominent she saw was anger and betrayal. He pulled away from her and started pacing the kitchen. He was trying to do everything in his power not to loose his temper with her, but something in him snapped and he lost it. 

“WHY?! WHY DOES HE ALWAYS DO THIS TO ME!?” He was yelling and knew he needed to reel in his emotions before he scared Hailey or worse said something he didn’t mean. 

“Jay it’s not permanent! Chicago is my home!” She had raised her voice hoping to be heard over his own yelling. It was that right there that triggered something in Jay and he snapped at Hailey in a way he never wanted to.

“ Ya that sounds familiar. Erin said the same thing the whole time we were together, and you know what it didn’t stop her from leaving me in the end! I thought you were better than she was and I guess.” He didn’t get to finish that sentence because that was the one thing that set Hailey off even more than she already was. 

“DON’T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE JAY HALSTEAD!” that right there was enough to break through whatever anger Jay was experiencing because he suddenly realized what he said and looked ashamed of it.

“Hailey I didn’t..” she cut him back off

“How dare you compare me to her! Don’t forget the part where I said that I was being sent to New York! I’m being made to do this. I wouldn’t just up and leave you or Intelligence for an FBI job in a city that I have no interest in going to!” Her eyes were now shining with angry tears and made her blue eyes even brighter. Jay knew he wasn’t going to get a word in with the way she was yelling at him, so he did the only thing he could think of to do and so with just two steps towards her he grabbed ahold of both sides of her face and kissed her. To say she was shocked was an understatement. She had wondered a couple of times what it would feel like to kiss him, she just never thought that she would actually get the chance to experience it. After a couple of seconds she started kissing him back. She wrapped her arms around his neck and grabbed a hold of the hair at the nape of his neck. The kiss seemed to last forever but it really only lasted a few minutes. When they finally broke apart they were both out of breath with faces flushed from the heat of the kiss. When she finally looked over at Jay he had his hand up rubbing the back of his neck like he always did when he was nervous. He let out a nervous chuckle “I uh.. I’m sorry?” He ended up wording it as a question out of nervousness. To be honest he wasn’t sorry and he would do it again in a heartbeat. 

“Don’t be.” She whispered “I wanted you to do it as much as you did.” She looked up at him and figured she should be honest with him one more time. “I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel something for you, because I do. When I’m around you Jay I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. Riding in your truck is one of my favorite things to do and just being with you makes me feel whole.” She heard him gasp but continued on “But I don’t want us to start something just because I’m leaving.”

“What are you saying Hailey? Cause from where I’m standing it looks like we both want the same thing.” He looked at her like this was the easiest decision ever. 

“We do want the same things Jay.” she paused when she saw him smile. “ I’m just saying why don’t we wait until I get back to explore this.” she gestured between the two of them. “ We will still talk all the time, or as much as we can and these 2 weeks will be over before you know it.” She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him and leaned her head against his chest. 

“I have to admit that it might not be a bad idea to wait.” He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “But I’m taking you to the airport. What time is your flight in the morning?”

“7 AM.” She pulled back to look at the clock on the stove and sighed. “But it is getting late and I should probably get home to pack and try and get some sleep before I have to leave.” As much as she didn’t want to she pulled herself out of his arms. 

“Fine,” he smirked. “I’ll let you go home but I’ll be at your door with breakfast and coffee at 5:30 sharp.” She expected nothing less from the man in front of her. She reached up on her tiptoes and gave him one last kiss before she turned and walked out the door. 

Just as promised Jay was at her door right on time, to take her to the airport. He got out and helped her load her luggage into his truck and when she got in he handed her cup of coffee and breakfast to her as he leaned over and gave her a peck good morning. When they got to the airport he walked her as far as he could before having to let her go for 2 weeks.

“Alright this is as far as I go with you.” They stopped just before security and he reached down and pulled her to him. “ I’m gonna miss you partner.” 

“Ya but like I said these two weeks will be a breeze. We’ll talk as much as we can and then it will feel like I never left.” She leaned into him to just savor the feel of his arms around her before she heard them calling that they were going to be boarding for her flight soon. Jay leaned down and placed a soft and gentle kiss to her lips before he let her go. As they said their goodbyes Jay watched as Hailey walked through security. He just hoped that she was right and that these next few weeks would go by fast so he could have her back here with him.

  
  


**Ohhh so do you guys think that this will be a breeze for them or will it be hell? I hope to update again soon as I’m already working on chapter 2**


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hailey's first few days in New York and things are already Messy

When Hailey arrived in New York it was around 11 am New York time, meaning Jay had only been at work for a few hours. She went to pick up her luggage. As she was headed down the escalator she saw a man in a nice suit with a sign that said Detective Upton. After retrieving her luggage she headed to the SUV to drive over to the field office. She decided to send Jay a text letting him know she landed safely and she would call him when she was done for the day. It wasn’t more than a couple of minutes later when her phone buzzed letting her know of a text message. She opened it only to smile at the selfie he had sent her of sitting at her desk with a caption that read.

_ I’ve decided to work at your desk, because I couldn’t stand to sit at mine and look over at your empty desk. _

Reading that made Hailey’s heart skip a beat. She knew that being away from the team and home would be hard, but she didn’t anticipate how hard it would be to be away from Jay. It suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe and that there was no air in the suv. Hailey rolled down the window to try and catch her breath. She figured that talking to each other all the time and texting would make the distance easier, but at first glance it seemed like it was making it worse. “It’s ok.” She thought to herself. “It’s only day one, it will get easier once you meet the team and your temporary partner. Then you can throw yourself into work and the weeks will fly by.” She quickly arrived at the field office and was taken up to introduce her to SAC Isobelle Castille, and her partner for the next two weeks. Special agent Zidan. 

“Hi I’m looking for SAC Isobelle Castille?” Hailey asked as she was led into the operations room.

“Ah you must be Detective Hailey Upton, I’m special agent in charge Isobelle Castille. I’ve heard alot of great things about you.”

“Oh thank you so much Ma’am.” Hailey was a little surprised by the news but hey she’d take it.

SAC Castille continued showing her around and introductions “This will be your partner while you’re with us. This is Special Agent Zidan.”

“Hi pleasure to meet you, and please call me OA, everyone else does.” He gave her a friendly smile and reached out to shake her hand.

“Hailey Upton. Pleasure to meet you.

Just then someone she would come to know as Special Agent in Charge Jubal Valentine, walked up to the board and started presenting the case they had just got that morning.

“Well no better time to see what you’ve got then now I guess.” Chuckled OA. They had found a young twenties something male in New Jersey and as of right now that was all they had. So they were being sent out to check out the crime scene.

“ So Chicago PD, should I be nervous?” OA started as they walked into the garage towards his SUV. He caught her off guard with his question and she didn’t quite know what he meant by his question.

“Nervous?” she asked. “Ya, you guys have just been in the news alot lately and not for good reasons.” He elaborated. 

She took a deep breath, she knew this was coming, she just didn’t expect it to soon. Though she had to admire his boldness, if the roles were reversed she would have done the same thing right out the gate. “Yeah. We’ve had some issues but they're being addressed. It’s a great place and I’m proud to be a part of it.” she didn’t mean for it to come out so harsh but it did. “Look in the future if you want to insult me just go ahead and do it. You don’t have to disguise the put down with humor.” she bit as she threw her vest in the back of the SUV.

“Look I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I guess that’s just my way of saying that we do things differently here. Just trying to keep it real.” he sounded like he meant it at least.

“Mhm, so I’ve been told.” she said under her breath. This was definitely not starting out as well as she hoped, but she just bit her tongue and would try to keep her head down and do her time so she could go home.

“So spend a lot of time in New York?” OA asked, trying to change the subject.

“No first time here.” she replied evenly 

“Oh well any early observations.” OA was desperate to make this go better than it was.

She decided now would be the time to mess with him a little bit. Give him a taste of that Chicago sass she always gave Jay. “Pizza’s too thin. It’s like a cracker with sauce on it.” she looked over at him and saw the most shocked look on his face. She shrugged “Just trying to keep it real.” OA just smirked, maybe working with Chicago wouldn’t be so bad. While in the car her phone buzzed again and it was a text from Jay, “ _ Please help me. I’m in a surveillance van with Vannessa for the next 6 hours. Who knew she could talk so much?! Is this two weeks up yet :(“ _

She immediately smiled at his message and started responding back. Her smile didn’t leave her face the whole ride to the crime scene, which didn’t go unnoticed by OA. 

When they arrived at the crime scene one thing stuck out to Hailey almost immediately, she had seen this kind of work before, back home in Chicago, but what she didn’t understand was why she was seeing it all the way in New York.

“Hey OA!” she hollered. “I may be way off on this and it’s a leap but I’ve seen this kind of torture before, back in Chicago, but what I’m confused on is, this is the work of a local gang we deal with all the time in Chicago known as the Latin Players. I have no idea why they would be out here, but like I said I could be way off here. I just thought I should share, just in case.” She had turned to look at the body further to see if they could find any forensic evidence. 

“Hey Hailey!” SAC Castille jogged over to her as her and OA walked back in “I just wanted to tell you that your instinct was right. We tracked the movement of some of the higher up’s in the Latin Players and turns out there’s a small faction of them here in New York. We probably wouldn’t have caught on so fast if it weren't for your intel.” She turned and walked away. Hailey was honestly stunned about the fact that she was right. They were coming down to the end of the night and OA invited Hailey out for a beer to welcome her into New York and for a good first day on the job. She reluctantly agreed but only to one beer as she said she had an important phone call to make. OA perked up at that and decided he was going to see how much info he could get out of her partner back home.

“So this phone call..? Is it to anyone special back home?” OA questioned. “Maybe a boyfriend perhaps?” He was full on teasing her now.

“Boyfriend!? No. Someone special, yes. It’s my partner back home Jay. We promised we would talk as much as possible to help alleviate the ache of us being apart.” she stated.

OA chuckled, “sounds like a boyfriend to me.”

“Well the night before I left we admitted to feelings that had been long buried due to past failed workplace romances, but I didn’t want to start something right before I left, so we are.. Well I don’t know what we are right now.” Hailey let out a nervous chuckle. Hailey looked down at her watch and excused herself thanking OA for the beer but that she was going to go get settled into her hotel room.

Back at Hailey’s hotel she had just gotten out of the shower and changed into an old set of CPD Academy sweats and a shirt when her phone started ringing. 

“Hey there Detective Chuckles!” she teased. “ How’s work without me?” she asked.

“Oh Detective Chuckles eh? Well for your information Detective Blondie, work without you blows.” He was full on laughing now, and so was Hailey. It felt good to her to hear him laugh. It soothed something in her, but at the same time it was slowly breaking her heart. 

“I miss you” Hailey whispered. “This may be the hardest two weeks we’ve ever had to deal with.” Her voice broke while admitting that to him.

“Hails. It won’t be that bad. LIke you said we’ll talk all the time and it will make it easier. But if it’s and consolation I miss you too.” He was trying his best to make her feel better but even he knew that she wouldn’t feel better till she was back home. 

“Hey Jay it’s getting late here and I have an early morning ahead of me. I’m glad you called, it did help.” She wanted him to know that the call did make her feel better, if even just a little.

“Yeah I get it. Have a good night partner. I’ll see you soon.” and with that he hung up. Hailey just layed there on her bed and without her even realizing it she had started to cry. She laid there trying to let sleep takeover but she just ended up tossing and turning in bed. Finally after what felt like hours she was able to fall asleep. The next morning was hell for her. All she had access to was shitty coffee and wasn’t even being delivered by Jay. Maybe she needed to rethink them talking all the time. It was easier for her to just get lost in work and then go back to her hotel and do it all over again. Maybe that was the way she would be able to get through the next two weeks. So as she headed down to her loaner car she decided that that’s what she would do. As she arrived at work she had a good morning text from Jay that she decided to ignore. Her head had to be in the game in order for her plan to work. As she walked into the office everyone was huddled around the table trying to figure out what to do next. That was pretty much how her day went for the next three days. They had absolutely no leads in the case and to make matters worse, she could tell that she had upset Jay. That first day he texted her a handful of times and she only responded once with a text that said “ _ sorry super busy with this case, can’t talk right now.” _ and that was it. The next day he didn’t respond as much but when he asked why she didn’t call him after work like normal she just responded with “ _ sorry was super tired, just fell into bed.”  _ And now on day three there was even less communication with the two of them. To her this just felt like the best plan to make it through the next week and a half. She had gotten drug by OA out to the bar again and he decided that what she told him wasn’t good enough. As she was sitting at the bar with OA sipping on her beer when she could feel OA watching her.

“So I’ve seen your phone go off at least a dozen times in the last three days and you’ve only responded twice, what’s up with you?” she just looked at him shocked, she didn’t realize that he was that observant, but she guessed that came with the job. 

“I realized that talking to my partner every day made me miss home more, so I’m creating some distance to make it easier.” She figured OA wouldn’t leave it alone until he got to the bottom of it so she decided that being truthful was the best route. “He knows somethings up though, I can feel it.” Hailey sighed. She knew she was hurting Jay by being distant but for her it was the easiest way. 

“What do you mean,  _ you can feel it?”  _ OA asked. He had heard of partners having a sixth sense with each other, when they could talk without words, but he’d never met someone who had that with their partner. 

“I mean, from the day I met him I knew I could trust him with anything. That included my life. I’d follow him blind. That's just how we work, that’s how we became so close so fast, and ended up with feelings for each other.” she stated this as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Wow. I’ve heard of partners having that but I’ve never met someone that had it. That’s pretty impressive Chicago. So why ghost him if you guys are that close. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just tell him how you feel?” He asked genuinely curious.

“To most, ya that would seem logical, but not with us. He’s ex military and an Army Ranger, expressing feelings don't come naturally for him.” 

“Well that makes sense for him. They play it close to the vest and let very little people in. I know cause I was also an Army Ranger. That still doesn’t explain why you don’t tell him what you feel.” Hailey was learning more and more about this partner every passing minute. She decided she would get a little deeper with OA. She felt as though she could trust him.

“I was promoted after being undercover for a year. During that time I had fell in love with my partner at the time. His name was Garrett. He was the first person that I really opened up to when I became a cop.” Hailey paused to gather herself. Talking about Garrett always made her a tad emotional. “Garrett was killed in that undercover op. It took me becoming partners with Jay to feel like I had someone who had my back again. We’ve been partners for going on 3 years and we just admitted to having feelings for each other. So to say the least, we’re complicated.” Hailey let out a breath she didn’t realize that she was holding and let out a nervous laugh. She didn’t realize how good it felt to get that off her chest. OA just looked at her, he wasn’t quite sure what to say after that. 

“Hailey.. I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how hard that was. It sounds like Jay is a really great guy, and he’s lucky to have you as a partner.” He took the last gulp of his beer and then looked at the clock on the wall of the bar. “Well partner we should probably head in for the night. We have to be up early in the morning and we’re still no closer to getting any leads in the case. A good night’s sleep may be all we need.” 

“Yeah that sounds like a good idea. I’ll see you tomorrow OA.” And with that Hailey turned and left the bar. OA on the other hand stayed back for a bit contemplating his next move. He made a phone call to SAC Castille.

“Hello.” She answered

“Hey boss it’s OA. I had an idea as to how we may be able to get ahead in this case.” He stated.

“Ok I’m listening.” Castille said intrigued

“Well we know that the Latin Players work out of Chicago, and Upton has been incredibly useful but with her being here with us, she can’t really get us any new leads since she’s away from her CI’s. I was wondering if maybe it would be beneficial to call her sergeant and see if he could loan us another teammate. That way they could keep in touch with their team in Chicago and they can keep us updated if anything regarding our case happens on their turf.” OA hoped he had made a good enough point to get her to agree.

“Those are great point’s OA! I’ll make the phone call and see if we can get someone else out here.” Castille said with a little more pep in her voice, at the idea of them getting ahead.

“Great! Well I’ll see you in the morning boss!” And just like that OA felt really good with how that night turned out.

It wasn’t long after that SAC Castille picked up her phone and dialed one number she had on her desk. “Sergeant Voight. Good to hear from you!” she stated when he picked up the phone.

“SAC Castille? Is everything okay?” Hank asked. He was a little worried that Hailey had gone off the book and was being sent back.

“Yes! Everything is fine. Detective Upton is doing great here. The reason I’m calling is that we are having problems with a case here and it involves the Latin Players. We’ve tracked down every lead we’ve had and come up empty. Upton has been a huge asset but we were wondering if there was any way you’d be willing to send us another member of your team to try and help us out. Act as sort of a liaison between our two units. It would be a huge help if you could and we would owe you one.” Castille was hoping that he would go for it. 

“Yeah I think I can spare one more person, things have been kind of slow over here so sure I’ll email you when I know who i’m sending. Have a good night Isobelle.” As hank hung up the phone he already knew who he was going to send to New York. Jay. He knew it made the most sense, he was the only other detective in the unit and he knew that him and Hailey had a special partnership that would be an asset to the feds. With that in mind he emailed SAC Castille and updated her and then picked up the phone to call Jay.

“Jay I have a job for you and a plane ticket booked for tomorrow at 8 am.” He filled in Jay about what was going on and then turned out the light in his office and headed out.

To say Jay was mad at Hailey was an understatement. She had ghosted him and he had no idea why. His mind was playing all kinds of tricks on him about what was happening. He knew Hailey had to have a good reason to not talk to him but he was still pissed that whatever that reason was, she felt as though she couldn’t tell him. Jay sighed, he would bury his feelings and deal with it after he got to New York and could talk to her. He finished packing his bags and then headed to bed. The next morning Hailey was a little surprised that she had no texts from Jay. Even though she wasn’t answering him he still texted her every morning and every night. She started to worry that maybe she had gone too far this time. Hailey got out of bed and headed for the shower to get ready for the day. Hailey headed for the field office and when she walked in everyone was talking about the new temporary team mate they would be getting in addition to her. She was a little surprised but figured they needed the help with the case so she just rolled with it. When she went over to OA to say hello she noticed the big smile on his face. 

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” Hailey asked with a smile, turns out his smile was contagious.

“Well I just have a good feeling about today and the new team mate will be here after lunch so maybe we will actually be able to get somewhere today.” He stated as he threw his arm over her shoulders and they walked to their desks. 

Everything that happened after that was just little mundane tasks. Filing paperwork here and there typing up witness reports for the case. It was almost 11 so OA asked her if she wanted to go grab lunch. Little did she know that Jay’s plane had just landed and he was on his way to the field office. Hailey decided that she’d had enough of the crappy New York pizza and that she wanted chinese, so OA took her to ChinaTown and they took their lunch back to the office to eat. When she got back she took her lunch to her seat and was finishing up an email to Castille when she heard an all too familiar laugh. She thought she was hearing things so she brushed it off. It wasn’t until she then smelt the familiar cologne of her partner that she turned around and there he was just standing there staring at her, a mixture of anger, hurt, and excitement in his green eyes. She felt like the air had knocked out of her lungs when she saw him. What was he doing here?

“Jay?” she finally asked.

“Hey Hails.” Jay said with a bit of a bite to it.

**Ooohhh cliffhanger! Well guys i promised an update and here it is! Hope you enjoy**

**Xoxo**

**HB**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jay's first day in New York how will this all go?

**Alright guy’s I’m back! Sorry it took so long as I had to get back to work and was just able to get some time to write and update! Thanks for sticking with me!**

_ “Hey Hails.” Jay said with a bit of a bite to it. _

Hailey knew she was fucked at this point. She could see it on his face, he was pissed at her. 

“Jay what are you doing here?” Hailey noticed the visitor badge on his chest.

“Well we weren’t getting anywhere with the case and since you didn’t have access to your CI’s we called and asked your Sergent if he could spare someone else to help us out who was able to still get any access to information on the Latin Players while here.” SAC Castille updated Hailey. She then turned to address the rest of the team in the room. “Team I’d like for you all to meet Detective Jay Halstead also from Chicago PD’s Intelligence Team, he is also Detective Upton’s partner when she’s back home. Let’s give him the same warm welcome we gave Hailey and get to work. Hailey was so shocked that she didn’t know what to do. She noticed Jay walking over to her and braced herself for the conversation to come, but to her surprise it never came. Jay reached down and walked his arms around Hailey in a hug and left a soft yet subtle kiss on her head. She immediately embraced him back and reveled in the feeling of being there with him again. When he pulled back he looked down at her “We will talk about what’s been going on with you but for right now I want to meet the partner that’s been taking care of you and get briefed on the case. While I’m here it’s the same as at home, work first then us.” She nodded her head and walked him over to OA to introduce them. 

“OA this Jay my partner from back home, Jay this Special Agent Zidan otherwise known as OA.” Both men reached their hands out to shake hands. 

“Jay! Nice to finally put a face to the name, I’ve heard alot about you from Hailey. Don’t worry I’ve got your girl’s back while she’s here. She’s already saved my ass once.” OA just chuckled at the shocked expression that Hailey wore. He was however pleased to see that his comment didn’t even phase Jay. 

“OA! Hey man thanks for looking out for her, and yeah she’s real good at making sure you don’t get shot on her watch.” He just chuckled. He already liked this guy. “Alright so now that I’m here and I’ve met everyone why don’t you two update me on what’s going on with the case. I know it involves the latin players so I had the team reach out to any of the CI’s that they may have and update me when I landed. The only thing they were able to get was that one of the leaders of the gang is awaiting trial here in New York. I figured that we could start with that and go from there.” Jay looked around the room and noticed that pretty much the whole team and come over to hear what he was telling Hailey and OA and they all had different expressions on their faces, some were happy that they had a lead, others mad that they didn’t catch the detail that one of the leaders was in prison in their own backyard, and others just purely impressed. When he looked over to Hailey she had the biggest smile on her face. Yes he was mad at her for ghosting him for the last few days but he could never stay mad at her, plus he was betting that the reason had something to do with fear and her being inside her own head.

Watching Jay brief the team on what he had found out in the short amount of time made her immensely proud that now everyone got to see just how good of a cop Jay really was. She was always singing his praise to OA and the team when they went out but now they would all get to see him in action. The fear she first felt when she saw him enter the bullpen was soon gone when he wrapped her in his arms. She took a deep breath and when she let it out she felt a weight come off her shoulders, that she didn’t even know was there. She realized that without any contact from him she was just going through the motions, and not really even there, which could be dangerous in her line of work especially for OA, if she wasn’t all there then she could miss something and he could get severely hurt. She pushed all of that out of her head and followed OA and Jay to the middle of the bullpen to see if they could get a name for the gang leader that was in prison there. 

“ Ok we have a hit on a name! Santiago Gonzales a known associate of the Latin Players. He’s being held at MDC awaiting trial.” SAC Castille alerts the team. “OA take Upton and Halstead to question Gonzales maybe we can figure out how he’s connected to the murder of the boy.” “You got it boss! Let’s go guys.” OA grabs his jacket and they head out.

They arrive at MDC and as they walk back to see Gonzales OA turns to Hailey and Jay. “Ok so since this guy originates from chicago I think that you two should take the lead on questioning him, go hard on him.” Jay and Hailey exchanged glances and that's when OA saw what Hailey meant by being able to talk without any words. 

“ You want a reaction out of him?” Hailey ask’s.

“Yeah, a big one. Big enough to make him call his people. Jay you be on standby with your phone and let them know so they can be sitting on their CI’s for info.”

“Copy that.” Jay immediately sent off a text to the team to let them know what move they were doing. 

They walked in to find Gonzales at the table and Hailey wasted no time in the questioning. 

“Where’s the gun you used in the drive by?” Hailey had her no nonsense tone of voice that Jay had heard multiple times but that OA was impressed by. Jay just stood to the back and let Hailey do her thing.

“I don’t know what your talkin bout.” Gonzales was playing dumb.

“Well your friends used it to kill a civilian last night and then again on my friends this morning, fired off ten rounds.” Jay piped up from the back of the room. This was normally how he and Hailey handled questioning suspects. Gonzales just peered back at Jay “ Like I told the lady, I don’t know whatchu talkin bout.” 

“Look you're staring down 20 to life for what you're sitting on. Tell us who you gave the gun to and maybe I can talk them down to reducing the sentence.” Hailey jumped in completely unphased by his playing dumb card.

“ Kiss my ass blondie.” This idiot really didn’t know who he was messing with. Hailey just looked over to OA who nodded at her to go ahead, she then gave Jay the look that said  _ let’s do this _ .

“We’re not fed’s like him,” Hailey gestured to OA and then to her and Jay.

Gonzales looked confused for a second. “So what?”

“That means we play by a different set of rules.” Jay piped up as he walked over to sit on the table right by Hailey.    
“It also means we know all the names of the shock collars of the Latin Players, and tomorrow morning we’re going to do a warrant sweep. Which means that a lot of people you know are going to get arrested.” Hailey finished for Jay.

“That’s not my problem.” Gonzales said as he sat back in his chair.

“ But it is, because we’re gonna make sure,” Jay gestured to him and Hailey “that they know that you’re the snitch that gave them up.” OA just looked at the two detectives impressed with how they were so easily getting this guy riled up. 

“Now you know no one’s goin to believe dat!” Gonzales was yelling at this point.

“Really?” Hailey stated. “ Because in my experience pissed off bangers rarely do their homework, and if they think you're a snitch, then you're a snitch. In the streets, rumors become fact,” she snapped her fingers. “ like that.”

Suddenly Gonzales was calm and just leaned back into his chair again. “I’m done talkin.”

“Alright.” Jay said, and with that they all walked out. 

“I’m not going to lie, that was impressive. You two really do work well together.” OA praised the detectives as they walked out to the SUV. As they were in the car Jay’s phone rang. They waited about 30 minutes and then he hung up.

“That was Roas, she said they intercepted a phone call from Gonzales to one of the guys in Chicago talking about the warrant sweep. He also said that they all needed to lay low, and that whatever happened in Hambridge park was coming back around for them. They all looked at each other and then relayed the info to the team. When they got back they all geared up and headed out to canvas the park. Hailey talked to one young girl who said that she lives nearby but didn’t know of anything happening a few nights ago. Hailey then heard OA yell out that they found something, which shortly after she heard someone else yell that they had a runner. That was all that needed to be said before she suddenly saw that Jay had tackled a kid to the ground. The kid stated that he had nothing to do with it and that he just heard about a dead guy in the park and wanted to check it out. Just like that all the pieces had started to fall into place. 

Once they got back to the bullpen Castille dismissed everyone to go home for the night and they would pick up in the morning. Once again Hailey felt the air leave her lungs, this meant she was going to have to talk to Jay about what was going on with her. She had heard Jay tell OA that they booked him into the same hotel as Hailey and that they figured the two of them would just share a loaner car. As Hailey packed up her things Jay walked over and grabbed her bag for her and asked if she was ready to go. She nodded that she was and they waved goodbye to OA and walked down to the car. The ride to the hotel was quite uncomfortable. Neither of them said a word the whole way there. When they pulled up they got into the elevator and when she asked what floor she was surprised to hear that they were on the same floor. However when she headed to her room he followed and once again she was surprised to see that his room was right next door to hers.  _ Great  _ she thought to herself, that meant she had even less time to try and get her thoughts in order before they had to talk. She was interrupted from her thoughts when she heard him call her name.

“I’m going to grab a shower and change, and then I’m coming over and we are going to talk about this Hailey.” He gave her a look that said it wasn’t up for debate.

“Ok, I’ll order takeout and do the same. We should probably eat something today.” She hoped that food would make thing’s a little easier. 

“Ok sounds good i’ll be over in 30 minutes.” he replied back but when she disappeared into her room he was shocked that she didn’t say anything back, but she reappeared in just a couple seconds and handed him the extra room key she had. 

“Just in case I’m still in the shower when you come over.” She smiled and then turned and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “See you in a little bit.” and then disappeared into her room. When she got into her room she set her bag down and grabbed her phone to call the chinese place down the road to deliver some takeout for them. Thankfully she still knows what Jay prefers and ordered his favorites, she then checked to see if she still had any beer in her mini fridge from a few nights ago. Once she finished all of that she went in and headed for the shower. She tried so hard not to let her mind wander, but that was easier said and done. She couldn’t help but worry that maybe she had gone too far in her actions to shut Jay out, she hoped he didn’t decide to call it quits on whatever it was they were just because she was scared and had a hard time dealing with the distance. She realized that she had been in the shower longer than she thought and got out and got dressed. When she came out of the bathroom Jay was sitting on her bed with the takeout spread out for them. She then noticed that he was smirking at her. 

“What?” she asked. She looked down and was in shorts and a CPD Academy shirt that was a bit too big for her.

“Nothing I just think it’s cute that you’re wearing my shirt, is all.” He was full on smiling now. 

“Oh wondered where this came from. Must have forgotten to give it back to you after you lent it to me when we got caught in that torrential downpour about a month ago. Sorry bout that.” She was blushing now and he thought it was adorable. 

“It’s ok come eat. We need it.” he patted the bed next to him. Before she sat down next to him she grabbed two beers out of the fridge and then sat down to eat. They ate in comfortable silence for a while before she felt his gaze on her. She decided this would be easier if she just ripped off the band aid.

“I’m sorry ok. I know I had to hurt you when I stopped replying. I just didn’t know how to handle the distance and being away from you and the team. I thought if I could just throw myself into work I could put my feelings into a box and lock them away till I got to come home.” She knew she had started to ramble on but she couldn’t help it. When she chanced a glance at Jay she could tell he was mad. 

“Hailey I don’t think you realize what was going through my head when you stopped replying to me all together! I watch the news! I know what was going on here, but I hadn’t heard from you and my head was creating all these worst case scenarios! I didn’t know if you were hurt or not! Voight told me that if you had been then he would have been notified and he would have told me! But that didn’t stop me from worrying about you Hails!”    
She tried to interrupt him “Jayl!” but nothing he just continued his rant.

“ I had no idea who your partner was! I didn’t think that anyone would be able to protect you like I can! I didn’t like you being gone for one second! But I was trying to stay positive and talking to you was helping me! I even stayed at your place a couple of times to try and ease the pain of not knowing,thinking that if I slept in your bed then I would feel like you were there to! Thank God Vanessa hasn’t said anything, because I know she knows something is up with us. But dammit Hailey that wasn’t fair for you to do! If this is going to work with us you have to communicate with me! I can’t help you if you don’t.” He finally stopped to take a breather and so Hailey took her chance.

“Jay I am sorry but those first days here it felt like there was no air for me to breathe! I didn’t know until I got here that you are literally a part of everything I do! All the way from my first bit of caffeine in the morning to half the time I’m either falling asleep at your place or you at mine! I physically couldn’t breathe that first day, and the only way for my to get out of my head and be able to do my job here was to lock it all away and focus on me being here. Talking to you all the time wasn’t helping me! I thought it would and as much as I hated not being able to talk to you and bounce ideas off you, it helped me focus on work. I knew I needed to do a good job here in order to be able to come home and come back to Intelligence, back home to being your partner.” She paused to gauge his reaction and all she saw was him standing there just staring at her with a shocked expression on his face. She waited for him to say anything before she started again.

“ Hails why didn’t you just tell me that? I would have understood and we could have kept it at good morning and goodnight texts. At least then I wouldn’t have freaked out wondering if you were ok or not. Do I really make you feel like you couldn’t have told me? Because if that’s the case Hailey I’m so sorry. I want you to feel like you can tell me anything.” He looked at her like she had just told him that she didn’t want to be with him anymore and that killed her. 

“Jay it’s not that I didn’t feel like I couldn’t tell you, I just felt like if I told you that I thought us talking less would be easier for me that you would think that I was going to be just like  _ her _ .” she wasn’t looking at him at this point. “ I thought if I told you how I felt then you would think that I thought you were expendable to me. I now realize that by me not telling you anything was more like what she did then me just being honest with you and for that I’m so sorry.” She looked up at him through her lashes. She didn’t want him to see the tears in her eyes. It was Jay's turn to feel like he couldn’t breathe. She thought that if she was honest with him that he would compare her to Erin. That’s when it hit him, the night before she left when he was angry he had said that he thought she was better than Erin was, and that’s where this insecurity in him came from. 

“Hails…” He whispered the name that only he called her and walked closer to her and put his finger under her chin to make her look at him. When she finally did he was the tears making her already bright blue eyes and even deeper shade of blue and it killed him to know that he caused her to feel like she couldn’t talk to him openly. “Hails, I never once thought you were doing what Erin did. I know you're nothing like she is, she never included me in any decision she made, and you do. You are such a good person, cop and the best fucking partner I’ve ever had. I know that what I said to you in my kitchen the night before you left is why you felt like this, and words will never be able to tell you how sorry I am for saying that. I need you to know that I don’t think you are anything like she was. It’s one of the many reasons that I love you.” He heard her gasp and he wasn’t sure why she did until he realized what he just said to her. He had told her that he loved her, and honestly he didn’t care because he did love her and he wasn’t scared of admitting that anymore. 

“I love you too.” She whispered against his chest. 

“Hails you don’t have to say it back, I know we’ve only just admitted to having feelings 5 days ago.” He wanted her to be sure before saying it back. 

“I’m sure Jay. That’s what I was going to tell you at the hospital after you were shot. I just didn’t feel like it was the right time for either of us. I’m sure about what I feel for you Jay. From now on I promise to be open and honest with you.” She stood on her tippy toes and kissed him full on this time. He returned the kiss tenfold until they were both out of breath and needed to breathe. 

“We should probably get to bed, early morning and all.” He said. He still didn’t want to rush anything. 

“Ya you’re right. But will you stay here? I haven’t gotten a goodnight sleep since I left.” He just chuckled and stood up. When he noticed her pouting thinking he was going to leave he laughed.

“Come on Hails you know I only sleep in boxers.” When she remembered this she blushed and just laid down on her side of the bed. She felt the bed dip as he crawled in. Jay turned off the lights and laid down on his back. Hailey decided there was too much space between them and scooted closer to him and laid her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat. Just as she was falling asleep she felt him kiss her head and whisper.

“I love you Hailey Anne Upton. Sweet dreams.” and with that Hailey drifted off into the most peaceful sleep she’s had since she left Chicago. 


End file.
